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Oct. 16, 1973 — when the paper ran a front-page story about a lawsuit against the then-27-year-old Donald Trump and his father.
"Major landlord accused of antiblack bias in city," the headline said. The story begins:
"The Department of Justice, charging discrimination against blacks in apartment rentals, brought suit in Federal Court in Brooklyn yesterday against the Trump Management Corporation, a major owners and manager of real estate here.
The corporation, which owns and rents more than 14,000 apartments in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, was accused of violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968 in its operation of 39 buildings."
The DOJ claimed "Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals ‘because of race and color,’" the Times reported. "It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available."
Trump, who was the company’s president, called the charges "absolutely ridiculous" and said "we have never discriminated and never would."
Trump Management then sued the U.S. government and under a June 1975 agreement the company was required to furnish the New York Urban League with a list of all apartment vacancies every week for two years.
Trump Management said the agreement was not an admission of guilt.
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